For many people who grew up in the eastern United States, the soft yellow blink of fireflies drifting over dusky fields and lawns is synonymous with summer, a nostalgic symbol of warmth and childhood. But few would guess that the common eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis) is one of more than two thousand firefly species worldwide. 

On May 18, Haywood Waterways Association and Haywood Community College will lead a moderate 6-mile hike in the Sunburst area of Haywood County. 

By the third week of April, spring is in full bloom throughout the picturesque valleys of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The owner of Ela Dam, a 99-year-old structure that sits about half a mile above the confluence of the Tuckasegee and Oconaluftee rivers, is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to let it surrender its license to generate power there.

The U.S. Forest Service has released its final analysis and draft decision for the Nantahala Mountains Project, which will touch more than 800 acres over a 24,943-acre project area. 

According to a study published last month in the scientific journal Animal Conservation, wild red wolves in eastern North Carolina had a significant ecological impact prior to their dramatic decline in recent years. 

Under the gray, misty November sky covering Panthertown Valley near Cashiers, we swish through shin-deep leaves in search of hemlock trees. 

Help scientists band birds this summer with the “A Bird’s Eye View” program at Highlands Biological Station June 22, July 3, July 12, July 25 and Aug. 2.

Somehow in the last couple years scanning the stacks and shelves of our local library and indie bookstore, I missed seeing an important book focused on and designed for the times we are living in. “Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth” (The Golden Sufi Center Publishing, 309 pages, 2021), edited by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, is a compendium of essays and poems addressing all the requisite issues that the word “ecology” implies.